KC's Greinke is in a zone of his own

~ The Royals' right-hander may be the best pitcher in baseball three years after walking away from the game.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Zack Greinke doesn't like attention. Never has. And not just a mild aversion to it, either. Enough to chase him from baseball, make his bosses wonder if he'd ever come back.

So as the spotlight grew with all those zeros he kept putting up on the scoreboard, how did the Royals right-hander handle it? He went deeper within himself, shut off the outside world even more.

"I'm not paying any attention to any of that nonsense," he said. "I don't hear much about it. I haven't even paid any attention to it."

It's getting harder to avoid.

Kansas City Royals starter Zack Greinke delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Friday April 24, 2009 in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Greinke was arguably the best pitcher in baseball the first month of the season: 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA and major league-leading 44 strikeouts in 36 innings, two complete games, including a shutout. He allowed just one run in his first four starts and stretched his streak of not allowing an earned run to 43 innings, dating to last September.

Toronto scored two earned runs Wednesday night to end the streak, but Greinke still struck out eight, got two homers from Billy Butler and allowed five hits in seven strong innings to become baseball's first five-game winner. He joins Walter Johnson, Fernando Valenzuela, Randy Johnson and Cliff Lee as the only pitchers to start 5-0 with an ERA under 1.00.

"He keeps you off-balance," said Toronto's Vernon Wells, whose two-out RBI single in the first inning ended Greinke's scoreless streak. "He'll blow you away with a 95 [mph] if he wants to. He was dominant, as he has been all year."

A quirky phenom

The potential to dominate was always there. Greinke was the national high school player of the year coming out of Apopka, Fla., then went a combined 15-4 with a 1.93 ERA and 112 strikeouts in his first full season in the minors in 2003, becoming Kansas City's pitcher of the year.

Kansas City Royals starter Zack Greinke, center, celebrates with teammates after pitching a complete baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Friday, April 24, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. The Royals won 6-1. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The problem was that with success came attention.

Greinke always had been a little quirky, never really close to his teammates. Eventually, the scrutiny that came with being a phenom became too much.

In 2006, after two years of scuffling on the field and feeling like his skin was crawling off it, Greinke packed his bags and left spring training. Told the coaches he needed to get away from baseball for a while. No one was sure when he would return, if he would return.

"I just hated being around attention and stuff," Greinke said. "In the clubhouse, I hated being around that. I didn't like anything to do with being around people, for the most part. I mean, I could be around them, just not in a talking situation, and that would make it even worse."

Greinke spent two months away from the game and was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, which causes an irrational fear of social situations. Medication eased his anxiety and he started to enjoy baseball again.

Greinke pitched three games as a September call-up in 2006, then had a 1.85 ERA over his final seven starts the next year. He followed that with a career year in 2008: fifth in the AL with 183 strikeouts, 10th in ERA at 3.47, a career-high 13 wins.

Greinke simply has been overwhelming this season, mixing speeds, hitting his spots on both sides of the plate, adding a changeup to go with his mid-90s fastball, curve and devastating slider. And it's fueled by a not-so obvious weapon: a step-on-your-throat competitiveness that belies that boyish, sometimes bored-looking face.

"He does have a mean streak in him, I'll say that," Royals pitching coach Bob McClure said. "Most of the good ones do. They've got a little bit of edge to them. He's not trying to throw at anybody's head, but he's trying to get it right under his chin. He's pretty fearless."

Even when it comes to all the attention he's getting.

There was a time when talking to dozens of reporters or appearing on the cover of magazines and newspapers would have made his mind swirl with tension. Though he'd still prefer to pitch by himself, without the world watching, Greinke can at least shrug off the attention instead of letting it smother him.

"I've been through ups before and even lower downs. I've seen how fast things can change," Greinke said. "I'm just spending all my attention trying to continue to do good, to help us out, instead of getting caught up in it like I did before. I just want to stay consistent."